Iraqi forces make more territorial gains against Daesh in, around Mosul

Iraqi army forces have achieved a string of swift territorial gains in and around Mosul as they are joined by allied fighters and Kurdish Peshmerga forces in a multi-pronged operation to push Daesh terrorists out of their last urban stronghold in the country.

Commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, said troops from the 9th Armored Division and Commando Regiment retook the village of al-Shamsiyat on Saturday afternoon, and hoisted the Iraqi national flag over a cluster of buildings there, Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported.

The commander stated that the development meant that the 9th Armored Division had completed the liberation of all villages and areas south of the eastern side of Mosul.

A local source, requesting not to be named, also said tens of Daesh terrorists had been killed in an internal dispute as the terror group loses ground at the same time that Iraqi forces advance east of Mosul.

The source said dozens of Daesh Takfiris fled their positions in several residential neighborhoods of eastern Mosul, and crossed the Tigris River on Saturday to take refuge in the western quarter.

Daesh commanders on the western bank of the Tigris River accused those arriving as traitors, prompting a nearly half-an-hour gunfight that killed and injured tens of Takfiris.

Moreover, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) announced that Federal Police forces were clearing the southern part of eastern Mosul of booby-trapped houses and hidden explosive devices planted on roads.

Earlier on Saturday, members of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) established full control over the University of Mosul, and raised the Iraqi national flag over buildings inside the educational installation. 

Iraqi Special Forces also liberated Eastern Yarmaja neighborhood from Daesh clutches.

Additionally, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said in a statement that a total of 174 Daesh Takfiris were killed on Saturday as the Air Force fighter jets struck the terrorists’ positions across Mosul.

Pro-government fighters from Popular Mobilization Units -- more commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi -- also thwarted a Daesh offensive on al-Hazar district west of Mosul.

Iraqi army soldiers, supported by Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation on October 17, 2016 to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

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